Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men (53 page)

Stephanie frowned. “What?”

“Ravel killed him. Shudder, too. Ravel betrayed them, he …”

“What do you mean dead? Like,
really
dead?”

Valkyrie nodded.

Stephanie felt something. What was that? Sadness? She’d liked Ghastly, or at least she’d liked Valkyrie’s memories of him. She wondered if she’d miss him.

“You look terrible,” she said.

Valkyrie did look bad. She looked exhausted, like she could do with a sleep and a long shower. “It’s all going wrong,” she muttered. “They fell into our trap. We had them. We were going to beat them. Then … I don’t know. There were more of them. We were all split up. I was with Tanith and Donegan.”

“You’re not with Skulduggery?” Stephanie asked.

Valkyrie shook her head. “We were captured. They had a psychic digging around in my brain. I’ve been hearing …” She faltered, but Stephanie knew.

“Darquesse,” she said.

Valkyrie nodded. “She’s talking to me. Right now, she’s talking to me. I’m doing my best to ignore her, but …”

Valkyrie grimaced, and Stephanie knew that Darquesse had just said something.

“Where are Donegan and Tanith now?” she asked.

Valkyrie gave a quick shrug. “Donegan said we should split up. We’re going to meet tomorrow. I’m so tired. I need to sleep.” She looked up. “Where is everyone?”

“Dad had to go into work,” said Stephanie. “Mum and Alice are over in Beryl’s. Beryl and Fergus are worried about Carol. They say she’s become very withdrawn lately. She won’t even spend time with Crystal.”

“Right,” said Valkyrie, barely even listening to details about her own life, details she should be caring about. Instead, she just stood up and took off her jacket. If ever Stephanie had harboured doubts over what she had to do, they vanished then and there.

“I should probably get back in the mirror,” she said.

Valkyrie murmured something.

Stephanie opened the wardrobe. She looked at her own reflection in the full-length mirror. A reflection’s reflection. She peered into her own eyes, saw the life in them, then she stepped through, into the two-dimensional mirror image of a slice of the bedroom. It used to seem so right to her, once upon a time. These days it was so jarring it made her queasy, especially with the flipping. She didn’t know what the technical term for it would be, but for some time now she’d been able to flip her image whenever she emerged. When all this started, a watch worn on Valkyrie’s left wrist would appear on Stephanie’s right. But not with the flipping. Just another little thing, another improvement, another piece of evolution that Valkyrie had thoroughly missed.

She turned and faced Valkyrie through the glass, watched her touch her fingertips to the mirror on the other side. She saw the slight frown when Stephanie’s image didn’t alter to match her own.

Valkyrie’s memories flooded into her, and she allowed her own memories to flood Valkyrie’s. She even added a few of the secret ones, the ones she’d been hiding. She let Valkyrie have the memory of the day Carol died, and she let her experience the memory of being tortured in Mevolent’s dungeon, of having her fingers cut off.

Valkyrie staggered back, hands to her head, eyes wide. Stephanie stepped out of the mirror, back into the three-dimensional living world, and rooted through the bottom of the wardrobe.

“What did you do?” said Valkyrie, knocking over the bedside table. “What did you do?”

Stephanie straightened up, the Sceptre of the Ancients in her hand.

Valkyrie jerked away, stumbled back towards the door. “What are you …?”

“My name is Stephanie. I’m a person. I’m real. The Sceptre only bonds to people who are real, right? It’s bonded to me.”

There were tears in Valkyrie’s eyes. “You killed Carol.”

“She won’t be missed. Not really.”

“Why? I don’t understand why you—”

“Too lazy to sort through the memories?” Stephanie asked. “Just like you’re too lazy to go to school and too lazy to study and do homework? I’m taking over, Valkyrie. I’m taking Mum and Dad and Alice and I’m making them mine.”

Valkyrie walked backwards, out on to the landing, her jacket still clutched in her hand. Stephanie followed at a respectable distance.

“You’re broken,” said Valkyrie. “You’re malfunctioning. Get back into the mirror and we’ll fix you.”

The Sceptre flashed and black lightning turned the wardrobe to dust. She turned back to Valkyrie. “No more mirror,” she said. “I’m out here for good.”

Valkyrie backed off the top step of the staircase. For a moment, Stephanie thought she might tumble down, but no, she kept her balance. Pity. “You’re going to kill me?”

“Of course,” Stephanie said. “I kill you, and you won’t kill my parents.”

“I don’t kill them. That’s Darquesse.”

“Darquesse
is
you,” said Stephanie, following her down the stairs. “That little voice in your head? That’s not another person. That’s your nasty side. Your dark and twisted side. Even when your magic is bound, you could still hear that voice. And you’re so close to giving in to it, aren’t you? Especially now, after Ghastly. So, so close. I can’t allow that.”

“Skulduggery will know. He’ll—”

“He’ll think you were recaptured. And if he figures it out, I’ll kill him, too. He won’t suspect a thing. None of them will.”

“I won’t let you take my place.”

“Bit late.”

Valkyrie reached the bottom of the stairs. Her eyes blazed with anger. “You say you love them? Look at yourself. You’re damaged. You understand? You’re not safe to be around. You’re not a person, you’re a malfunctioning
thing
. Five years ago, Skulduggery shot you to fake my death. Ever since then you’ve been getting worse.”

Stephanie gave a smile as she followed Valkyrie into the living room. “Actually, it was a few moments before that. It was when he pulled me from the puddle – that’s when things started to change. See, I know everything you know, but you don’t know everything I know. Here are the rules when it comes to reflections. Rule one: a reflection shouldn’t be left out for too long. Oops. Rule two: reflections can’t do magic. Rule three: each person has only one reflection. Once that reflection’s physical body is destroyed, it can’t return, and no new reflection can be conjured. Why do you think this war isn’t being fought by thousands of reflection foot soldiers? Because they’ve all been destroyed by now. And rule four – once conjured, a reflection must emerge only from its original surface. In my case, the mirror I just destroyed. Skulduggery knew it was risky conjuring me from a second surface. He knew something could go wrong. But he did it anyway. So really, when you think about it, all this is his fault.”

“Listen to me. You don’t have to do this. We can—”

“Say my name.”

Valkyrie frowned. “What?”

“My name. Say it. I want to hear you say my name.”

“Why?”

“Because you abandoned it and I picked it up, and I want to hear you acknowledge that.”

Valkyrie looked at her, but didn’t say anything.

Stephanie raised the Sceptre. “Say it.”

“No.”

Now it was Valkyrie’s turn to see anger flash in Stephanie’s eyes. “Say my name.”

“No.”

Stephanie stepped forward and cracked the Sceptre off Valkyrie’s head. Valkyrie stumbled against the back of the sofa.

“Say my name or I’ll turn you to dust.”

Valkyrie held her hand to her forehead as blood started to trickle. She looked at the black crystal, and then—

“You’re not going to win, Stephanie.”

That name. That simple name, spoken by the girl who had abandoned it, brought a glow of pure joy to Stephanie’s being the likes of which she’d never felt before. And that joy brought tears. The first tears that weren’t part of simulated emotion for the benefit of others. The first real tears. And in that moment, in that wonderful moment, Stephanie became truly whole.

Valkyrie whipped her jacket at the Sceptre and stepped in with a punch that sent Stephanie reeling. Stephanie’s arm went wide to stop her fall, and she swept half the mantelpiece clear. Valkyrie had the Sceptre now, and was pointing it straight at her.

“This is for Carol,” she snarled.

And nothing happened.

Stephanie crashed into her, taking them both over the sofa. They sprawled out the other side, and Stephanie got up, grabbed Valkyrie by the hair and kneed her in the head. She tried it again, but Valkyrie grabbed her legs and sprang. Stephanie’s back hit the coffee table and the wind rushed out of her. She slid on to the floor and Valkyrie got on top, started hitting her. Stephanie covered up as best she could, trying to breathe. She tasted blood.

Her hand went searching for a weapon and instead found the leg of the coffee table. She pulled the table over her head, struggled to keep it there while Valkyrie tried pushing it back. A few moments to blink and clear her head and then Valkyrie lifted the table off her completely. Stephanie shot her hips off the ground and twisted and they turned over and over again, knocking over the lamp that Stephanie’s grandmother had left them.

There was a mad scramble and then Stephanie was flat on the floor and Valkyrie had grabbed her wrist, tried to break her arm. Stephanie saw the move coming and countered, flipping Valkyrie on to her belly. She dived on her, her arm snaking round Valkyrie’s throat, but Valkyrie bit down hard and Stephanie cried out and moved her head just in time to catch Valkyrie’s elbow right in the eye socket.

Stephanie rolled off, howling in pain. A moment later, Valkyrie’s boot slammed into her side. Through bleary eyes, she watched Valkyrie stride into the kitchen and take a knife from the rack.

Stephanie forced herself up, looking for the Sceptre. She lunged to the fireplace as Valkyrie came back, grabbing the poker.

“You’re going to stab me?” she said, panting. “You’re really going to stab me to death?”

“You’re not alive,” Valkyrie said, closing in.

Stephanie swung the poker and Valkyrie swayed back, came in with a straight stab, but Stephanie flicked the poker into her wrist. The knife dropped and the poker flicked again, whacked into her head. Valkyrie stumbled and Stephanie kicked, sending her into the patio door, cracking the glass. Valkyrie ducked the next swing, caught Stephanie with an elbow and Stephanie lashed out blindly, hitting nothing. Valkyrie grabbed her and lifted and then the floor smacked into her head and Stephanie lay there in darkness. Over her own breathing, she heard Valkyrie groan as she got up. And then she heard a car.

She opened her eyes. Valkyrie stood over her, frozen. The car’s engine shut off. A door opened and closed.

“Mum’s back,” Stephanie mumbled. “You really want her to find two of us here?”

Valkyrie looked down at her, her eyes wide with alarm.

“You’d better run,” said Stephanie. “I’ll give her your love.”

The front door opened.

“Steph?” her mum called. “We’re home.”

“Mum!” Stephanie shouted. “Help!”

Valkyrie whirled, grabbed her jacket off the ground and held it in front of her as she sprinted for the patio door. Stephanie’s mum rushed into the room, Alice in her arms, as Valkyrie leaped. She hit the glass and crashed through it and Stephanie’s mum cried out. Valkyrie stumbled but kept going, running to the back of the garden and vaulting over the wall.

Alice was crying and Stephanie’s mum was on her knees beside Stephanie and Stephanie tried her very best not to smile.

alkyrie cut across the fields, staying away from the roads as she left Haggard behind her. The cops would be out looking for a girl in black, and she didn’t think it’d be a good idea for them to pick her up and have her folks arrive at the line-up. She got to the next town over, walked the beach as the sun set, and chose a spot in among the sand dunes to lie down. She covered herself with her jacket and curled up. She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep. It wasn’t that she wasn’t tired – she was, she was exhausted – it was just that her mind was too active. Her thoughts jostled against each other and she couldn’t calm them. She had no phone, no money to get a taxi, and her car was at her house, the keys with the reflection.

Stephanie.

Yes, Stephanie, as she now called herself. Stephanie, the murderous lunatic with the Sceptre and Valkyrie’s family in her possession. It was all Valkyrie’s fault, of course. She’d known something was wrong with the damn reflection. She’d known it for years. She’d even talked to Skulduggery about it, but she’d never pressed the issue. She’d never demanded a solution. She was too afraid that the solution might be to get rid of the thing altogether, and then Valkyrie would have had to resume her old life. And that would never do. Not when there was adventure and excitement to be had around every corner with Skulduggery. She could never give that up.